Wareham’s Natara Gray named Berklee’s 1st assistant admissions, diversity, inclusion dean

BOSTON – Berklee College of Music has named Wareham-native Natara Gray as its first assistant dean of admissions, diversity and inclusion recruitment.

The 2001 Wareham High graduate’s initial focus will be improving the college’s recruitment and retention of Black and African American students.

Gray has more than 12 years of higher education experience in student affairs, admissions, diversity, equity, and inclusion. She previously served as the director for undergraduate admissions and diversity outreach at Eastern Nazarene College in Quincy, where she led a team of 10 in their efforts to recruit and retain students with an interest in pursuing a liberal arts education. Gray was directly responsible for the overall admissions and recruitment process and for fostering and cultivating external partnerships.

“Natara comes to Berklee with a depth of experience and understanding of the importance of Berklee's diversity and inclusion recruitment efforts,” said Damien S. Bracken, dean of admissions. “Her life’s work and passion is to provide educational access and opportunities to underrepresented/underserved communities and she has a true appreciation for the power of music and the arts to transform lives for the better. I'm excited to partner with Natara on this important work.”

Gray began her college experience as a first-generation student at Bridgewater State University in 2001 by working three jobs to support herself but left before obtaining her degree to pursue a music career in Florida. It wasn’t until 2014, that the wife and mother of two graduated from Bridgewater with a bachelor of arts degree while working full-time for the university in its Center for Multicultural Affairs.

The long-time DE&I advocate is looking forward to engaging with the Berklee community. Of this new chapter in her professional career, Gray said, “I am beyond blessed to have an opportunity to work at a place I have appreciated and respected for so many years. Music is our soul’s way of communicating with or without words, and it’s a universal language that both unites and bonds us. We are born into many of our identities, and they are our assets, not our barriers.”

She added, “Our team, and the entire Berklee community are committed to making sure all voices have a seat at the table. You don’t find that everywhere and I am both honored and humbled to be working alongside such passionate and dedicated people.”

Gray has also held the position of associate director for student diversity, inclusion and undergraduate admission at Babson College, where she led Babson’s undergraduate diversity admission and recruitment initiatives, including diversity training for all admission staff as a certified implicit bias and bystander intervention facilitator. She honed her skills for the specialized work as the assistant director of the Office of Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging at the Harvard Kennedy School. During her almost five years in the role, she was a vital member of admissions, financial aid, and the school’s diversity committee. Gray also managed the Public Policy Leadership Conference, a program dedicated to underrepresented and underserved first and second year undergraduate students.

Gray is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Higher Education Administration at Northeastern University.

Her message for Wareham High students: “The sky is the limit and you can become anything and everything that you want as long as you are willing to make the sacrifices that you need to along your journey. Put yourself out there to network and engage with people that you need to, use resources to help catapult your career.”

She said it’s important to remember “your path can be very much written in pencil because it can be erased and rewritten any time. Nothing has to be set in stone. We have the ability to think through and become anything that we want to, no matter how small or how big the town we come from.”

She added, “I was not a traditional student. I was involved in a lot of things in high school and when I left high school I started college. But I left college. I pursued a musical career. I moved to Florida. I did all of the non-traditional things that people tell you not to do but I think the reality is, we all have to find out what works best for us. The reality is we are in charge of our own destiny.”